1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wireless tag communication system to perform wireless communication with a wireless tag mounted on a toner cartridge, and to an image forming apparatus in which the toner cartridge can be removably installed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printers, fax machines, copiers, and other image forming apparatus comprising a developer portion, which uses a two-component developer comprising a toner and a carrier to develop an electrostatic latent image on a photosensitive drum surface, employ toner supplied from a cartridge installed in the device main body to develop a toner image of the electrostatic latent image, and perform image formation by transferring the toner image onto paper or similar. And, when the toner within the cartridge is depleted, the toner within the image forming apparatus is replenished when the user replaces the cartridge with a new cartridge.
In this case, if the newly replaced cartridge is a genuine product of the manufacturer of the image forming apparatus, or is a product certified by the manufacturer (hereafter together called a “certified product”), then no problems arise; but of late there have been cases in which cartridges other than certified products (non-certified products) are used. When a cartridge which is not a certified product is used, not only is the performance of the image forming apparatus not adequately exploited, but malfunction of the image forming apparatus can occur as a result.
Hence in many image forming apparatus developed in recent years, cartridges are managed using RFID (Radio Frequency Identification: wireless automated identification) technology or similar. Specifically, a wireless tag, in which is stored cartridge and toner information as tag information, is mounted on the cartridge, and after the cartridge is installed, a communication unit arranged in the main body of the image forming apparatus reads the tag information, so that by this means, whether the installed cartridge is a certified product can be ascertained.
However, if tag information which is the same as the tag information stored in the wireless tag of a certified product cartridge is stored in the wireless tag of a non-certified product cartridge, the apparatus can be made to recognize the installation as that of a certified cartridge. Hence using only the information stored in the wireless tag of a cartridge, it is difficult to judge whether the toner actually housed in the cartridge is a certified product.